This invention relates to dental implants, and more particularly to submergible implants.
Submergible cylindrical threaded dental implants, which are placed in a cylindrical hole in an edentulous area along the dental bone of a patient, are used to support an artificial tooth structure. After being allowed to heal in place, the implant receives a transmucosal post. The most common method for the subsequent attachment of the transmucosal post or abutment to the healed implant is by standard screw threads. However, the torque required for tightening of a threaded abutment may occasionally spin the implant in its bony crypt.
This spinning can occur when there is a poor healing environment, i.e. excessive amounts of fibrous tissues are present at the place of connection between the bone and implant. The effect of this turning of the implant is to cause irreversible damage at the implant-to-bone interface, and implant failure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,004 issued to the present applicants illustrates a submergible screw-type implant utilizing longitudinal channels which direct bone chips towards the base of a hole in the patients bone during threading of the implant into the hole in the bone. These chips pass through a plurality of vents in the implant body and into a central chamber of the implant where they promote autogenous rapid regrowth of new bone to securely anchor the implant in place. This implant, however, is free to rotate during the subsequent abutment connection. This rotation might lead to the failure of the implant.